A2
が and けど — but
How が and けど join contrasting clauses in Japanese, why they often carry no contrast at all, and how a sentence can end on one.
が and けど both join two clauses and mark the second as running against the first. が is the more formal of the two.
高いですが、買います。
Takai desu ga, kaimasu.
It’s expensive, but I’ll buy it.
行きたいけど、時間がない。
Ikitai kedo, jikan ga nai.
I want to go, but I haven’t got time.
This が is not the subject particle. Same character, different job — this one sits between clauses rather than after a noun.
Often there is no contrast at all
Both words are used simply to set something up, the way English and can. This use is extremely common and reads as polite rather than contradictory.
すみませんが、駅はどこですか。
Sumimasen ga, eki wa doko desu ka.
Excuse me — where’s the station?
Nothing is being contrasted. が softens the approach and gives the listener a moment before the question.
Ending on it
A sentence can stop at けど, leaving the second half unsaid. It is one of the most useful things in spoken Japanese: a hesitation, a soft refusal, an unfinished objection the listener completes for themselves.
ちょっと難しいんですけど…
Chotto muzukashii n desu kedo…
It’s a bit difficult, though…
Said in full — so no — it would be rude. Left open, it is a refusal that has not technically been made.
でも starts a sentence
が and けど join clauses inside one sentence. でも begins a new one.
高いでも、買います。
高いですが、買います。
でも cannot join two clauses. Inside one sentence the word is が or けど; as a new sentence it is 高いです。でも、買います。